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Sunday, April 17, 2016

Not so long ago there was a sew along over at the Handmaiden's Cottage. The name of the vintage dress for little girls was Florence, you can see my blog post about it here. Due to popular demand a dolly dress pattern was created. Presenting the Florence Dolly Pattern by the Handmaiden's Cottage.

This pretty little dress in now available in their Etsy shop. So grateful to Lynn to have been brought in on this fun little project!

All you need to make this dress is the pattern, 2 fat quarters, 1/4" bias tape, scraps of interfacing, 2 buttons for the front and velcro (hand sewn snaps or metal prong snaps) for the back closure. Well and the usual, sewing machine, pins, scissors...

So many pretty details to this dress yet so easy to put together. Just a few of hours including printing and cutting and your little one will be overjoyed with her new dolly's dress.

Amelia was quite please with her doll's new fancy dress. She's even picked out fabric for another!

Saturday, April 16, 2016

JubeJube has been all about tunics and layering them with cardigans. She just loves that girly look with all the comfort of being able to swing and play on monkey bars in the school play ground.

Now what could be more girly than scallops and lace! This new pattern by Sunday Girl Designs (Etsy shop) is on sale now for the next 24hours at only $4.00 USD (no coupon code needed). It offers some fun little options, dress, tunic, peter pan collar, scalloped hem. Sizes range from 3 years to 8 years and also features layered printing so you only print out the size you need. The back closes up with a button and loop.

The detail on the hem is my favorite part of this garment. Yes scallops take some time but in the end they are so pretty!

Also available with this pattern is a full toturial on bias...How to make your own, how to store it so it keeps its folds and how to apply it for this pattern.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Hello again!
We've just barely made it home after our Craftsy escapade all across Canada. We're unpacking our luggage and finding some great souvenirs from the trip, but it's just too much to keep for ourselves. And because you've been such perfect road trip companions, we'd like to share them with you. Up for grabs are 4 coveted prize packs from our travels, as well as the special gift that Craftsy sent to us while we were gone galavanting.
Be quick about it! Giveaway closes soon.

* This post contains affiliate links. If you visit one of those pages via my link, I may receive a small commission from the seller, at no additional cost to you.

First up is the Craftsy gift:

* Please note: If you entered this giveaway before Friday, April 8, your entry may not have been recorded correctly by Craftsy. Please enter again. This colourful tote bag kit includes the Rowan Three-Quarter Patch Tote pattern, some stunning Kaffe Fassett fabric, plus all the Pellon Fusible Fleece stabilizer you will need for the project. The only things you would have to add to this are a coordinating button, some thread and your time. Voila! You have a gorgeous tote that will be the envy of tote-al strangers. It's almost like instant Jello pudding, only better! Follow this link to enter before midnight April 11, 2016:

How to Enter

Winner's will be notified by email within 3 hours of the contest closing, and will then have 24 hours in which to respond to the organizers.

It is each participant's responsibility to ensure they sign in to Rafflecopter with a valid email address, and also check their email accounts for notification.

Entries requiring a blog post comment, social media follow, or trivia answer will be verified using the name provided by the participant.

The giveaway is open to anyone worldwide. International or US residents who win a prize designated as for Canadian Residents Only may be required to pay for the additional shipping, or forfeit the prize. If said winner chooses to forfeit the prize, another winner will be chosen from the remaining eligible entries.

Many, many thanks to all the wonderful people who've followed us on The Great Canadian Craftsy Bag Tour. We hope you learned a little about our very large, diverse and beautiful country while you got a peek into some of our favourite Craftsy classes.
And very special thanks to the amazing, supportive people who helped make the giveaway and our graphics just that much better: Celine from Blue Calla Patterns and Elle from Brand UR Shop Graphic Design. Take a bow ladies!

Happy travels until the next time we take you tripping and traipsing!

Marsha, Janelle, Deb, Fiona, Michelle, Reece, Shelaine & Ula

If you want to take a look back here are the links to all the fun stops on this Canadian tour!

I watched all the segments to this class, about 3 hours of how-to videos (I didn't watch all in one sitting). I downloaded the patterns, and got my shopping list ready. I did have an issue finding By Annie's Soft & Stable, so I had to make due with other stabilizers. I'll be able to tell you what I used and how that worked for me.

This is how I started my morning. See where my focus was, yup you guessed it, on my coffee! I cut out my pieces and applied a fleece interfacing and then a firm polyester stabilizer. I wanted the basket to be firm enough that it wouldn't just collapse if I decided to stack them. I think the combination of fleece with the firm interfacing worked fine. I wouldn't have any worries about stacking the baskets either.

I decided that I was to start off with the smallest nesting basket, just in case I didn't like it or the interfacing that I used didn't give the results I wanted. Once everything was cut out and interfacing applied I was able to measure the handle and little vinyl pocket placement. One thing that is mentioned in the class is to keep that little piece of tissue paper on the vinyl so that the clear vinyl doesn't get lost in the shuffle...I want to add that its also a good idea to hold on to that piece of tissue paper for easy top stitching. Place the paper over the vinyl so that everything feeds nicely under the presser foot. Once you're done just rip the paper off.

I don't usually make bags or sew thick fabric and I know Wonder Clips are life savers for some of us...but when you don't have Wonder Clips you can always use office supplies? These binder clips really did the job, not sure they would work for everything you would use Wonder Clips for, but in this case...

Once I had finished sewing the base to the body I felt it looked a bit like a pot. A pretty pot, but still a pot and not a basket. I had to hurry and get that lid made. I thought of what I would put in my little pot looking basket and if it would still look like a pot with its tag in place a lid.

JubeJube thought it would look nice with her toys in it and begged me to put her stuffed rabbit in it. thoughts?

I'm thinking these would make great gift baskets. Give a gift with its own storage container? That could work.

In the end I think its my rick rack that won a new home...a girl can never have too much rick rack! Only in Canada, you say? Pity!

Here are a few things that I really liked about the class:

You get two projects to work on, the nesting baskets and the Catch All Caddy.

A good explanation on interfacing and which one would work best for this project.

Tips and tricks that are discussed in the class.

Easy pace and not too much information all in one sitting.

I really feel like I was able to benifit from this class and got to learn something new.

Guess what! Crafsty is going to offer this class at a huge discount, just for you! How about 50% off this class, no code needed with my affiliate link! Offer expires April 12th, 2016.

*This blog contains affiliate links meaning I make a small commission if you click on the link and make a purchase through it at no extra cost to you.

Meet my fellow Canadian bloggers on this tour with Janelle on her blog, Emmaline Bags! So many more projects to take a look at! You'll also want to go check out Marsha's blog, Seam of My Pants...I think she's got somthing up her sleeve...

So we're getting ready for warmer weather around here (I hope) and this tunic is just the way to start building that spring/summer wardrobe. So happy I got a head start on this one and was able to help test it.

The tunic is designed for light weight wovens and is cut on the bias to give it that beautiful drape. The layers are asymmetric, I think it creates a beautiful style. The back features a keyhole with ties at the back neckline. The whole thing is lined so you could also play around with different colors and textures in the fabric. I chose a fabric from my stash, a light embroidered cotton voile.

So easy to wear, and looks good paired with leggings, capris, or jeans.

Size range for this pattern is from 2 years to 12 years. You'll also find a full tutorial with photos, metric and imperial charts, list of notions and material requirements and a glossary of sewing terms.

I bet when Amelia sees JubeJube's new tunic she'll want one too...better get a jump on that one, heeeheee!